Monday, August 8, 2011

Your Favorite Wrestlers Ever: Jake Duvall

Now that my own favorites list is out of the way, I posed the question to some of my colleagues in the fan/writer community. Who are your favorite five wrestlers?

Today's list comes to us from TWB superfan and Twitter enthusiast Jake Duvall. He's from the South, but that hasn't stopped him from being a huge Chikara fan or indie wrestling fan either (although with RPW and NWA Anarchy, it's not like the Peach State has a dearth of good indies to work with). Here's his list, which is very comedically tinged.

Two of the greatestPhoto Credit: WWE.com

5. Chuck Taylor - One of two professional wrestlers that have ever inspired me to purchase a t-shirt of their likeness, and one that I finally had the pleasure of seeing in the flesh during WrestleMania weekend. WhileI'm not giving much of a TOOT concerning his wrestling ability (although anyone will be hard-pressed to debate that he and Gargano have the potential to be one of the best teams of all time if ever given a shot at the big leagues), his antics are absolutely hysterical. After watching his "training montage" and several clips of him scaring the shit out of children, I was in love. Chikara and DGUSA have him to thank for me even bothering to check them out (and have since become a huge fan of both promotions.) He's easily one of the most entertaining wrestlers on the indy circuit, and hopefully he won't decide to go the route of a "serious" gimmick anytime soon.

4. Norman Smiley - Norman Smiley's WCW Hardcore title reign was one of my favorite periods in wrestling…not to mention when he threw Chavo Guerrero's toy horse into a wood chipper, demanding that the correct pronunciation of his name was "Smi-LEH," etc. And he invented the Big Wiggle, which is something I automatically resort to doing when dragged into some awful dance club. It's hard to be a character that's NEVER boring, and anytime Norman was on, it was always worth watching. May possibly be my next write-in for the 2012 presidential election.

3. Chris Jericho - Even though my love of him diminished a bit when he got offended by the handsome and talented Jim Norton making a joke about Christopher Reeve, how do you not love him? Wrote the most entertaining wrestling book out there, and has played pretty much every role possible and played it to perfection. Jericho was also responsible for by far THE funniest WCW moment of all time: the 1,004 Holds List. (Honorable mention: Ralphus) Aside from his comedic exploits, I remember the first time I ever saw the Lionsault and almost shit. This was pre-Internet, and always a fan of the high-flying stuff, I was so amped to see someone do a moonsault by catapulting off the ring ropes.

2. Santino Marella - I will defend this man to the death, and have threatened home invasions involving my own urine and feces for those who talk negatively about him when they comment on this blog. He portrays a half-retarded Italian with a unibrow, plays a fake trombone to celebrate his victories, and was responsible for the Honk-A-Meter. His finishing move is a fucking two inches away POKE. And does anyone remember his promo as a heel against "Rey Mastrio"? Me and my wrestling friends are all huge marks for him, and I think one of us petitioned WWE Shopzone to actually sell his proposed WWE Magazine cover from that segment.

Bottom line, if you don't enjoy this guy, you are a fucking moron.

1. Ricky Steamboat - The only non-comedic pick of mine, and it trails back to the fact that I pretty much worshipped the guy as a kid. Some young's had an Ultimate Warrior phase, some loved Hulk Hogan, some were into Sting… I always cheered the loudest for the Dragon. When I wrestled a bean bag chair on my trampoline, I always mimicked his hip toss, and regularly broke out flying body presses solely because I'd watched him do it a million times. Plus, he blew fire, which makes him better than any wrestler that's ever existed.